Coach Kristen Turner's Bio

 Being an athlete is second nature to me, thanks to my parents’ wonderful example.  I need to tell you a bit about them to put in context my own story. My mom was a typical 1970’s stay-at-home mom--completely devoted to her family and also totally sedentary.  However, when my father, Pat, a former college basketball player turned competitive runner, bought her a pair of walking shoes for Christmas one year, her life changed dramatically.  Within a few years she transitioned from being a recreational walker to a full-blown triathlete. Today at the age of 67, she has been the two-time world champion in the Ironman Triathlon in Kona, Hawaii.  So my story is their story, too.

 Athletically, I began a competitive swimming career at the age of seven and progressed into doing triathlons by the time I was 12.  In 1983, my parents moved our family to Hawaii from my childhood home of Greeley, Colorado, so they could train and compete in the Hawaiian Ironman.  After my brother, Mike, and I watched them finish the Ironman in 1984, we made it our family dream that we would someday all compete together.

 After graduating from high school in 1987, I attended Pepperdine University in Malibu, California on a Division I swimming scholarship.  My senior year, I also ran Division I cross-country, juggling my running and swimming workouts. During the off-seasons, I competed in triathlons internationally, achieving All-American status, and eventually winning my age-group in the Triathlon World Championships in Avignon, France.  More importantly during my time at Pepperdine, I met my husband, Nate, and we married in 1994.

 Pursuing graduate studies brought us to Austin, where I completed a Master’s Degree in Educational Psychology/Counseling from the University of Texas in 1997.  Professionally during this time, I worked as a youth swim and adult triathlon coach, a mentor to women athletes at UT, and an Academic Advisor in the Kinesiology and Health Education Department.   When my son, Austin, was born in 2000 (I have since had two other children, Autumn, b.2002, and Landon, b.2006), I decided to leave my position at the university to work exclusively as a coach and personal trainer.   This career path was the perfect integration of my passion for fitness, and my interest in psychological motivation.  In recent years, my business, No Excuses Fitness, has specialized in motivating mothers to prioritize fitness as part of their own wholeness, with great benefit for their families.  I have been so blessed to see many women develop confidence and renewed energy for their roles as wives and mothers through their pursuit of fitness.

 My story would not be complete with out telling you the ending to our family’s Ironman pursuit.  In 1998, fifteen years after my family made the goal of competing in the Hawaii Ironman together, God allowed that dream to come true. My brother, Mike and I crossed the finish line of the Ironman holding hands with our parents not far behind.  We were blessed to be the first family of four to ever qualify and compete in the Ironman Triathlon.  So that’s the ending, or is it the beginning?  I hope our experience and love for fitness and family will be inspiring to your families, too.